Some Curbs on Sex Offenders Called Ineffective, Inhumane

11-22-2006 Georgia:

As convicted sex offenders go, they seem to pose little danger.

One is 100 years old. Another can barely walk and is in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. Another is dying of heart disease in a nursing home.

Yet under a new Georgia law, thousands of registered sex offenders, even the old and feeble, could be pushed from their homes and hospices.

"He doesn't really know anything about it," said Ruby Anderson, 77, whose husband was convicted of having sex with a minor in 1997 and, at 81, no longer recognizes members of his family because of Alzheimer's disease. "The trouble is, I just don't know where we can go."

As states around the country have sought in recent years to control the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders, Georgia's law stands out as one of the toughest, a testament to the daunting public fears regarding children's safety.

Problem nursing home in Fayette County closes its doors

2-14-2014 Ohio:

A long-troubled nursing home in southwestern Ohio — the one that was home to more registered sex offenders than any other in the state — has officially closed.

The last one of 131 residents at Carlton Manor in Washington Court House in Fayette County was moved today.

Carlton Manor had become the state’s de facto nursing home for people who were difficult to place. In addition to 27 registered sex offenders living there, nearly all the other residents had some sort of behavioral, psychological or mental-health problem. Many had a history of violent or aggressive behavior and some had criminal backgrounds.

The Ohio Department of Health, which licenses nursing homes, said in January it was revoking the home’s license because of a series of failed inspections and a history of trouble, which included not reporting suspected sexual abuse and improperly restraining residents. The government has pulled the home’s Medicaid and Medicare funding.

Of the 131 residents in the facility when the state ordered the closure, 99 moved to other nursing facilities; 21 went to developmental-disability centers; four were placed in mental-health group homes; three moved home; and four died of natural causes.

Finding new homes for all the residents went more smoothly than expected, said Tessie Pollock, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Health.